Employer-employee relation dwindling in Bahrain

The relationship between employers and employees is getting very critical day by day and the concerned authorities need to look into this issue seriously, a Pakistan Embassy official said.

Speaking to DT News, Community Welfare Counsellor Maqsood Qadir Shah said many employees had started contacting the embassy in this regard.

He said recently a person approached him with a complaint that his employer was not releasing him from service, adding such complaints are not rare. 

“Confiscation of passports of employees by the employers has become the most evil practice in Bahrain,” he stated.

It may be noted, it is illegal under the Bahraini law to hold others’ passports. 

“The embassy cannot intervene directly in such cases and is bound to act through the police. However, the complainants still don’t get very positive response. These people finally become victims of confiscation of passports or travel ban,” Shah said. 

He stated that the foremost thing in this regard was that travel ban should not be imposed without listening to the victim.

“It is unfortunate that many people are coming under travel ban regularly and majority of them don’t know how to deal with it legally. There must be some reasonable limit on the travel ban - it should not be imposed on amounts of BD300 or BD400,” he said. 

He urged for the establishment of a dedicated complaint cell in LMRA on permanent basis where the embassies can forward such cases.

He added the laws of Bahrain government are excellent and there is no shortcoming in them, urging them to be implemented in their true spirit.

“If someone launches a complaint to police, it will be the responsibility of police to help them get their passports back. But in practice, police do not pay heed to what the victims say. There is no room for police to ignore such complaints in Bahraini law,” he stressed.